DID THE ROMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSE BECAUSE IT WAS A MARKET ECONOMY?

DID THE ROMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSE BECAUSE IT WAS A MARKET ECONOMY? In the review I posted on yesterday, James McCormick summarizes Bryan Ward-Perkins argument, based on the archaelogical record, that after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, large areas reverted to Iron Age economies. Ward-Perkins thinks that there was a high level of specialization in the Roman Empire. Adam Smith argued that the division of labor (that is, specialization) depends on the extent of the market. The other side of the coin is less often noted. If we know there is a lot of specialization in an area, there are probably developed markets. When trade in the Roman Empire was cut off by military reversals, the specialized economies were vulnerable–they weren’t self-sufficient.